Above: As the larger Fury’s momentum started to build, Usyk (right) stayed focused, made adjustments and picked his moment to strike. (Photo by Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images)

HE’S THE BEST IN TODAY’S GAME BY MANY STANDARDS, BUT DOES THE UKRAINIAN PHENOM HAVE A PLACE IN THE PANTHEON OF HEAVYWEIGHT LEGENDS?

Fresh off his victory over the previously undefeated Tyson Fury on May 18, the Ring Ratings Panel unanimously voted to elevate Oleksandr Usyk to the number one spot on the magazine’s pound-for-pound list.

The Ukrainian’s resume was already first ballot Hall of Fame-worthy prior to the Fury bout. So, it goes without saying that now he has to be considered the premier heavyweight of the post-Klitschko era. However, immediately following the Fury win, discussions began among fight fanatics who held Usyk in an even brighter light. Conversations and debates about his status as an all-time great seemed to begin just seconds after the scorecards were read in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Is Oleksandr Usyk an all-time great? If so, where does he stack up historically in a pound-for-pound sense? How does he measure up against the greatest heavyweights of all time?

Before we get into the all-time great debate, let’s briefly review Usyk’s overall body of work in the squared circle.

AMATEUR HIGHLIGHTS:

• Reported amateur record of 335-15
• Ukraine heavyweight representative at 2008 Olympics
• Gold medalist at 2008 European Championships
• Gold medalist at 2011 World Championships
• Gold medalist at 2012 Olympics in London
• World Series of Boxing participant (2012/2013), 6-0 record, including wins over Joe Joyce and Junior Fa.

Usyk as undisputed cruiserweight champion.

PROFESSIONAL HIGHLIGHTS:

• Cruiserweight titleholder (2016-2018)
• World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament champion (2018)
• Undisputed cruiserweight champion (2018)
• Consensus 2018 Fighter of the Year
• The first and only boxer in history to unify all five major world titles (Ring, IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO) at cruiserweight.
• The first and only boxer in history to successfully defend the undisputed cruiserweight championship.
• Unified heavyweight titleholder (2021-2023)
• Undisputed heavyweight champion (2024)
• The first and only boxer in history to unify all five major world titles at heavyweight.

After an extensive amateur career with hundreds of fights, Usyk’s professional run has been about quality over quantity. Half of his 22 pro fights have been world title bouts, seven of them for unified or undisputed championships. Further, every single one of his title fights has taken place on the road, often in his opponent’s backyard. After his first world title win against Krzysztof Glowacki in Poland, Usyk went on to clean out two divisions over just a dozen fights. That is simply unprecedented in the modern era.

Not only has Usyk been a road warrior, he’s also been fighting and beating naturally larger men for years now.

Anthony Joshua, another man who was “too big for Usyk,” couldn’t cope with the quickness and mobility of the former undisputed cruiserweight king.

Many fans don’t realize just how difficult the jump from cruiserweight to heavyweight is. In fact, one could make an argument that it’s the most difficult leap in all of professional boxing. Don’t believe me? Just look at the numbers. The cruiserweight division has been around for nearly half a century (it was originally 190 pounds in the early 1980s, but in 2003 it was changed to 200 pounds). To date, only three boxers have won world titles at both cruiser and heavyweight.

That’s a pretty short list.

Before Usyk, the only undisputed cruiserweight champion was the great Evander Holyfield, who did it back in 1988 when the division was only a decade old. He would go on to become the undisputed heavyweight champion a couple years later when he stopped James “Buster” Douglas in Las Vegas. Fast-forward three decades; David Haye unified three cruiserweight titles in 2008 before moving up to tussle with the big boys. At heavyweight, Haye would briefly hold the largely unrecognized, often mocked and ridiculed, secondary WBA “regular” title before losing to Wladimir Klitschko.

The Ring does not recognize that “regular” belt as a legitimate world title when a WBA “super champion” exists. So, in that sense, only two boxers have held fully recognized world titles at both cruiser and heavy. Perhaps that fact puts Usyk’s accomplishments into perspective more than anything else. And it bears repeating that the Ukrainian did it all on the road.

By contrast, all but two of Holyfield’s cruiserweight bouts took place in the United States, where he was the promotional “A-Side.” Further, all 17 of his heavyweight championship fights during the 1990s through early 2000s took place in the USA. It wasn’t until 2007, when Holyfield challenged Sultan Ibragimov (and then Nikolai Valuev in 2008), that he fought for heavyweight world titles on the road.

In addition to his skills, Usyk’s mental strength is second to none. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

Due to their similar achievements, Holyfield and Usyk will be compared to each other by fans and pundits for years to come. And almost everybody in the boxing universe considers “The Real Deal” a heavyweight all-time great, so why not Usyk? One could argue his championship run has been more impressive than Holyfield’s, considering everything noted above. 

One argument you hear from the purists is that Usyk would not be able to hang with the heavyweight greats of the 1970s or 1990s because “he’d be too small.” Well, tell that to Anthony Joshua (6-foot-6, 250 pounds) and Tyson Fury (6-foot-8, 270 pounds). The reality is, in a historical sense, Usyk would actually be a big heavyweight in most eras. And we don’t even have to go back that far.

Consider that Usyk and the great Muhammad Ali share the same height (6-foot-3), reach (78 inches) and coincidentally, the same January 17 birthday. George Foreman, considered a massive heavyweight in his day, is only one inch taller and longer than Usyk. Larry Holmes is 6-foot-2, Holyfield is 6-foot-1, Joe Frazier was 5-foot-11, Mike Tyson is 5-foot-10, and the list goes on.

If adversity exists, Usyk’s exceptional combination of skill and intelligence allows him to figure out a way to win. (Photo by Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images)

At the same time, Usyk’s recent success also shatters narratives from many young fans that the heavyweights of yesteryear could not compete against today’s “super heavyweights.” Perhaps bigger isn’t always better after all. If Usyk could beat Fury, why couldn’t Ali? At the same time, if Ali, Jimmy Young and Holyfield could beat Foreman, why couldn’t Usyk?

For this writer’s money, I believe Oleksandr Usyk would compete in any era throughout heavyweight history.

Along with the all-time great heavyweight debate, there is of course the pound-for-pound debate. As stated above, Usyk is our current No.1 pound-for-pound fighter. Many boxing pundits, including yours truly, are extremely hesitant to put heavyweights on any pound-for-pound list. Some completely forbid it, especially in a historical sense. But all the purists criticizing The Ring (and most other media outlets) for rating Usyk pound-for-pound are forgetting something – he began his career as a cruiserweight. Since moving up to heavyweight, despite facing a constant size disadvantage, Usyk has continued to win against the elite on the big stage.

That is the very definition of pound-for-pound.

OK, so he’s not quite ready to join the likes of Henry Armstrong, Tony Canzoneri and Ray Robinson – three legends of all-time great pound-for-pound lore. But the quirky Ukrainian southpaw has certainly entered the discussion as being among the best to ever step into the ring, regardless of weight class or era.

His case will only get stronger if he beats Fury in their contractually mandated rematch later this year. That fight is tentatively scheduled for October. Should he win again, Usyk would likely secure Fighter of the Year honors for the second time.

Michael Montero can be found on social media via @MonteroOnBoxing. His show “The Neutral Corner” can be seen every Monday on YouTube and heard on audio podcast platforms around the world.